Which to use
“caved” is a verb and “covey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,586
- “caved” frequency rank
- #46,402
- “covey” frequency rank
- 75988
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caved | covey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of cave | A brood or family of partridges (family Phasianidae), which includes game birds such as grouse (tribe Tetraonini) and ptarmigans (tribe Tetraonini, genus Lagopus). |
Where the eye mixes caved and covey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. caved (CVCVC) and covey (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: caved vs covey
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caved is /keɪvd/ while covey is /ˈkʌvi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caved is recorded at frequency rank #29,586, classified as averb, pronounced /keɪvd/. covey is at rank #46,402, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʌvi/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 75988, this pair ranks #31,435 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caved vs covey
Shared letters: cev. Private to "caved": ad. Private to "covey": oy.
"caved" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "covey" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "caved" and "covey" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "caved" or "covey"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "caved" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "covey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #31,435 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caved" and "covey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "covey vs cower". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #31,435 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.